WSJ photo of London’s Redbridge borough before (top) and after installing a Philips system.
It’s a good day for environment and efficiency related articles in the Wall Street Journal!
This article mostly writes about Philips and their lighting division, but it brings up the question of why more people aren’t switching to newer environmentally friendly and energy efficient lighting.
Convincing people to switch to more energy-efficient lighting is a problem that has bedeviled environmentalists and policy makers for years. Despite the energy-saving benefits, the high upfront costs of the lights put off buyers. And, though makers say the light from energy-efficient compact-fluorescent bulbs is indistinguishable from incandescents, some consumers still associate them with harsh office settings. These days, energy concerns are getting even more attention with oil prices high and concerns about global warming growing. Switching to compact fluorescents would cut world-wide electricity demand by 18% and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency.
Popularity: 1% [?]
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
The reason I won’t use compact flourescent bulbs is that the ones available on the US West Coast get considerably dimmer over time. They don’t fail all at once like an incandescent, but the light falls away and falls away so within a year they have to be replaced. And they cost 20 times what an incandescent costs. Not there yet.
One way to assure you’re buying a quality compact fluorescent light is to look for the Energy Star logo. Energy Star bulbs have passed a test that includes things like how much the quantity of light degrades over time. Our compact fluorescent guide lets you search by whether a bulb has been Energy Star approved and includes how much each bulb should cost and where you can buy it.
If this is of any interest to you, you might want to take a look at the One Billion Bulbs project (www.onebillionbulbs.com). We are trying to get vast numbers of people to give CFL bulbs a try. We show the collective effect of this with a few fancy maps and charts. We’re trying to make it a bit fun and do something good in the process.
- Jeff
We’ve been using fluorescent bulbs here for years now, so I must admit I was pretty amazed at all the buzz. The ones we buy for our house really do last a long time, and we’ve always used fluorescents, so I can’t personally compare how much better they are than incandescent bulbs.